


do we stumble when we fall, or do we pick up the pieces and start anew?

by Lee_Mix



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 04:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12246894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lee_Mix/pseuds/Lee_Mix
Summary: Her blue eyes are frantic as they dash from focus, one place to the next. She’s bleeding, she’s panicking, and Chat Noir knows what that means. He smiles. She’s looking for a place to hide, even now.“Chat, I-I don’t know what to do. What do we do?”...Well, this is new.





	do we stumble when we fall, or do we pick up the pieces and start anew?

**Author's Note:**

> A written commission for kittenpics.tumblr.com . ^_^ A reveal scenario when hanging on for deal life. Why not!

Ladybug’s shrill screams of terror still haunt him.

It came as a surprise, really. One minute the two had been swapping quips and puns amidst the action, the terrible flirtation and banter being a consistent repertoire between himself and Ladybug, and then the next…

…Ladybug’s power had gone wrong, the Akuma had bound them together, and they had been flung to the tip of a skyscraper, hanging on for dear life with his claws denting the gravel as he scrambled for purchase.

Kind of reminded him of a hoodie drawstrings, the way they two were dangling.

“Chat–” Ladybug’s voice, so panicked and terrified, snaps him out of his thoughts. He turns his head, and he can see that she’s sweating. Beading on the brow, messing up her outdated fringe, and if it weren’t for the fact they were swaying in the cityscape currents, he could have sworn she was shaking. “–what do we do?”

He tries, tries to grin. “My Lady, fear not, I–”

The Akuma swipes another attack from afar–with their sky-based abilities, they are the crowning victor for the moment, and his Lady is screaming again.

Knocked against a window, it cracks, and glass imbeds itself into her skin. Chat Noir would see red if his feet weren’t robbed of the ground.

She’s hissing when she speaks. “I–I only have one point.”

Her blue eyes are frantic as they dash from focus, one place to the next. She’s bleeding, she’s panicking, and Chat Noir knows what that means. He smiles. She’s looking for a place to hide, even now.

“Chat, I-I don’t know what to do. What do we do?”

.

.

.

Well, this is new.

Usually, Ladybug’s the one with all the ideas, the plans, the layouts. Now, with those big doe eyes pleading him, he’s been forced to take up the mantle. The bounds are tight as he dangles, angry marks on his wrist are sure to take their place later, and yet for now, for this moment–

“I don’t know.”

And he fails her.

“My Lady, I… I don’t know. These windows are too thick to be kicked in, I–I don’t know how to help you without the inevitable occurring! Maybe… maybe there will be some way for me to forget, maybe I can try and convince Plagg to help me out with that. I will figure out a way, I promise–but my main concern–ah!”

The Akuma lurks ever closer. It could just come over and pluck the Miraculous stones straight from the two of them, but–

Deep inside, there’s a memories of a good person. Who even now, hesitates.

We’re kids fighting a war. Please, let us save you.

“…Why?”

Chat Noir’s head turns at that sound.

Ladybug is tearing up, disbelief painted across her expression.

“Why is your focus on my identity now? Why are you being so… selfless?”

And, again, the cat grins. With the gentle swaying, it’s almost like the cat’s cradling the little ladybug, who’s poor little wings have been taped together by the big bag hawks and moths and who cannot learn to fly without getting past that horrifying fear of falling, first. He only hopes that it brings Ladybug a little more time to gather her courage.

He’s too dedicated to that lovely lady in red sometimes, he thinks. But it won’t destroy him. He won’t let himself be destroyed.

Chat Noir, Adrien, it matters not. The golden boy smiles. “Think of how many times you’ve been selfless for me, for other people. I’m paying a debt it’s due…”

“Chat!”

“…and you are my best friend, Ladybug. I know you’ve got people–loved ones–to lose. Even if I would never… betray that trust, I won’t push you, even in times like these. I won’t put those people in jeopardy.”

…Chat Noir knows it’s only the suits that are protecting them from slipping from the bounds. He knows, the moment Ladybug vanishes, whoever is left in her place will get hurt from the friction.

So, he puts his feet firmly in the broken glass, and begins to sway her until she can grasp onto a nearby crumbling ledge. It’s not safe, but it’s something.

…Even if he’s straining his bones to their absolute limit in order to keep her there.

And then, he knows that she’ll be more of a target. But this way, he can dive in and take the shot for her, let her be free of these bounds to escape, he’ll never see her identity and, in the end, it’ll be him that plummets. Not her.

Never her. Never Ladybug.

Never his best friend.

“Chat–”

He knows she’s figured it out. What he plans to do. She’s smart like that, much smarter than he will ever be. She’s probably going to beg and plead with him now, maybe cry–

“Thank you. But you don’t need to do this for me.”

His green eyes snap over and catch a hold of her gaze, and she’s not crying (well, she’s got evidence that she was; they’re still there in clusters against her mask, that’s slowly dissolving into that pink glow), but instead, she’s smiling. She’s grinning, a wry thing, almost challenging that Akuma to tread closer as he hears his own countdown begin, hears the mix of green and black rise up as he feels Adrien start to take over, and–

And she’s jumping.

“Ladybug!”

The bounds, their bond, it intertwines and loops and twists tightly–and, and Ladybug is spiralling towards him, the costume fading into clothing and what I know who that is–

It’s Marinette who wraps her arms around Adrien, who catches Tikki and Plagg between them, and the Akuma’s shadow is no match for the shreds of sunlight caught in her eyes as she pulls back and smiles at him.

“Nobody else gets hurt today.”

“Marinette…”

Oh, her smile is golden.

“If we’ve got to go down…”

She presses her forehead to his, her arms straining as much as his. Always equal, Marinette and Ladybug.

(Love, for him, has two names.)

(Little did he know, for her, it is the same way.)

“…then I would prefer we don’t.”

And in the broken glass from the window, Marinette places one foot, and Ladybug is giving her control. Chat Noir and Adrien, within him, are speechless, but no matter what, they’ll follow her example. He keeps a hold of her, she to him, and they face the Akuma that dares to tread.

**Author's Note:**

> If you are interested in commissioning me for writing purposes, please visit http://unluckyfortunes.tumblr.com/commission for further details! ^_^


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